Trump announces nearly $71m fund-raising haul after guilty verdict
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Former president Donald Trump’s campaign announced it had raised millions of dollars after Mr Trump was convicted of multiple felony charges.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump’s campaign announced in the evening of May 31 that he had raised nearly US$53 million (S$71 million) in the 24 hours after his felony conviction
It is hard to put the enormity of the sum into proper perspective, but it would nearly match in a single day the US$58 million Trump’s main fund-raising arm raised online in the last six months of 2023, according to federal records.
The campaign had said earlier on May 31 it had collected nearly US$35 million in the hours after the verdict. By the evening of May 31, the campaign had revised the figure up to US$52.8 million in the 24-hour period following Trump’s conviction.
“This momentum is just getting started,” Ms Susie Wiles and Mr Chris LaCivita, two of Trump’s top advisers, said in a joint statement.
The figures will not be verifiable until the campaign committees and WinRed, the online processing platform for Republicans, make their filings with the Federal Election Commission in the coming months.
In addition, the campaign had said in the morning of May 31 that nearly 30 per cent of donors who gave online were new to WinRed, giving the former president an invaluable infusion of new people to tap for contributions as his campaign marches on to November.
The one-day haul was significantly more than the US$4 million Trump raised when his mugshot was released in 2023, after his booking in Atlanta for his indictment there.
A supporter of former president Donald Trump near Mar-a-Lago on May 30.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
Cash has so far been one of Mr Biden’s advantages in the race
The 24-hour fund-raising total could erase that edge, though Mr Biden has said his campaign had another US$100 million spread across accounts that he shared with the Democratic Party. Trump’s campaign has not disclosed its total cash on hand with party accounts.
The Biden campaign has leveraged its cash to advertise in key battleground states since Trump emerged as the Republican nominee and as Trump has been absent from the airwaves.
The post-verdict total was far greater than the US$26 million that the Biden campaign had announced four years ago in the 24 hours after he had named Ms Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential pick.
In April, Trump’s operation, working in concert with the Republican National Committee, announced that it had raised US$76.2 million, beating for the first time what Mr Biden’s shared operations with the Democratic National Committee brought in – US$51 million.
The conviction appeared to be driving Democratic donations, as well, though to a much lesser extent.
ActBlue, which processes online contributions for Democrats, registered three of its four biggest hours of donations in all of 2024 on May 30 in the wake of the conviction, topping out near US$1.3 million in a single hour, according to its online ticker. NYTIMES
